Hi my name is johan and i live outside Boston Ma. Im from Sweden where GEO as most of you likely know is very common. When me and my wife moved into our almost 200 year old home we were certain that we would eventually install GEO. Now after one winter and knowing the house well enough we are ready to do this. Today we have oil and three different heat sources; 40% water/floor hear, 30% air and 30% old cast iron radiators on the fist floor. Above the 1st floor we have a attic streaching over all our rooms on the first floor. My though is that we would need a water-water and water-air system and bring further duct-work up to the attic and down to the rooms on the first floor where we have today the cast iron radiators. The house is well insolated ( atleast for us-standards and being an old house...). Our basement is underground and is more or less constant at 66 degrees ( I was not thinking of heating this space up as its semi-finish) and the rest of the house is 5,800 square feet. I'm going to have a contractor comming over a give me a quote and will of course get another if not two more. In Sweden this project would cost about 30-35k that being said i think this might be one of the very few things that is cheaper to do in Sweden due to the huge market. I would very much appreciate any input you can give to me in regards to this project. I think its hard to find good articles about the components/pumps etc that are used here in the US. Also what would is the price range i can expect - im as im sure most of you are a person who like if not already understand the whole process but also know what you pay for in the end. Thanks for your time reading this - and sorry for the spelling misstakes - im a swede who is used to the spell checks Thank you- Johan
Quote Hi Johan. We would love to provide you with another quote if you're interested. It sounds like you have a good idea of your layout already. Depending on where you are located the drilling itself can sometimes run $15,000-$25,000 for a closed loop? As for manufacturers there are a few good ones out there to choose from. The pricing will vary depending on the amount of actual work inside the home. We have done projects for as little as $35,000 for a single system and up. If you are interested send me a private message and we can discuss it further. Thanks, Scott
Where outside Boston? I grew up near Boston. Given that you have a home that is both big and old I strongly recommend you investigate what may be done to reduce the load before considering supply options. Chances are there are major low to intermediate hanging fruit in areas of infiltration reduction and insulation improvements at lower cost than a high tonnage geo system.
Johan, You can get spell check here. I see only one issue with what you are thinking, the cast iron radiators will want to see water temps higher than geothermal can handle, or one would need to add BTUH to those areas. If the radiators are as over sized as was the thinking at the time of installation that may become a non-issue. What is your thinking about cooling? How big is the yard for installing loops? Mark
Thought I had replied earlier. As Mark pointed out cast iron radiation is designed for higher water temps so you have to be very careful with design. The upshot is many older homes with 1 or 2 pipe steam or hot water cast radiators are often over radiated as people opened their windows in the winter (100 years ago) to avoid the mysterious night death that came from ignorance of carbon monoxide. There fore it's not impossible that you will find even at 120* or less your radiation system may not require too much augmentation. j
